Now they did not say "Your writing sucks." They gave me good sound advice about my story, how I went wrong, how I might fix it and other tidbits that could help me in the long run. But that's not really what this blog post is about.
They were hesitant to give me advice at first. The reason being that they are use to giving advice and having the writer come back with a huge chip on their shoulder, and that is putting it lightly.
If you are a writer, and new to the art, the worse thing anyone could do who reads your pre-published work is to tell you how much they love your work, even though they may not, just to spare your feelings. It does not help you get better in any way at all.
I am like anyone else, I love the occasional pat on the back and the worship of someone who likes what I do, however I am striving to be the best at my craft I can be, and to do that I need negative feedback. I'm not talking about feedback where they simply say "You have no talent." or "Don't quit your day job." I am talking about people giving their honest opinion about your work, then giving sound advice on how to improve. You should thank those people not curse them.
So, with that said, I would like to thank those of you who took the time to read my work, to formulate what they would like to say or email me with detailed explanations as to why, when and where. These people should be hailed as the cream of the crop.
The next time you ask for opinion or advice, be prepared to take what ever they come back with and use it to be better. IF not, then you probably would be better off in another field.